Article by Marius Mărgărit – Published on Sunday, 08 February 2026, 17:31 / Updated on Sunday, 08 February 2026 17:36
The general scandal at the end of the game in Cluj, among fellow citizens cf. and the University, caused reactions in the football world.
The former great international referee Adrian Porumboiu (75 years old) watched the match and commented on what happened, such as the performance of the center referee, George Vidican, but also of the fourth official, Cătălin Roman.
Adrian Porumboiu: “After a fight like this, Vaslui lost the title in 2012!”
Seeing the fight after the final whistle of the game in the Cluj derby, Adrian Porumboiu says that “this whole thing reminded me of what happened in 2012, in the penultimate stage, also in a match between CFR and “U”, then refereed by Alexandru Tudor.
He eliminated two players, Cadu and Bornescu as it were, a bigger fight broke out, they also fought in the tunnel towards the changing rooms, the match was stopped by the referee. But then, the League and the Federation, instead of giving both teams a match lost 3-0, made a Romanian, a scam, in fact!
They invented a reason that, oh my God, the referee didn't keep the cards of those who participated in the fight, that I don't know what he didn't write in the report, and it was decided that the match should be replayed. A unique decision in this world! At the replay, they put a foreign referee, a Croat of Hungarian ethnicity, to give a semblance of impartiality.
It was 2-0 for “U”, after which Adrian Cristea committed it and was eliminated. In superiority, naturally, CFR equalized, and in the end, Kapetanos threw himself into the swimming pool. And Cadu brought victory and the title to CFR, from that penalty.
And that's how my team, FC Vaslui, lost the title, by one point! Even, we take the title! But we were probably too small for such a big carom!”.
Porumboiu: “It is inadmissible how Bergodi reacted! He has no excuse, regardless of whether Cordea cursed him”
Returning to what happened on Saturday evening at the arena in Gruia, the former FIFA referee warned from the start that “such things should not happen. And I did not understand Bergodi's attitude. It was known that it would be a tense match.
You, Bergodi, as a coach who has been to so many teams in Romania, at a balanced age, over 60 years old, to go and squeeze Cordea by the neck, is not admissible! He has no excuse. The player would have also cursed him, and for that Cordea has no mitigating circumstances.
But even if that happened, there's no way you could do such a thing! You, Bergodi, are and must be an example for players, for all who are in the phenomenon. No matter if he cursed Cordea or not”.
- Today, in a reaction to GSP.ro, U's president, Radu Constănțea, tried to blame Bergodi's violent slippage on some obscene gestures that Cordea allegedly made in his direction, according to footage from the broadcast that was not seen on TV:
“The substitute referee should have announced Vidican”
Porumboiu continued: “Vidican's refereeing was impeccable. He refereed very well. And in that fight, what to do?! What, is he a boxing referee?! He did his job, he tried to calm the spirits. The problem is that the reserve referee, who was the closest to the phase where Cordea was probably swearing at Nistor and also swearing at Bergodi, did not request Vidican.
To tell him that Bergodi, who already had a “yellow”, left the technical area again. Vidican would have intervened and most likely would have also eliminated Bergodi and Nistor, maybe Cordea as well. And there was no more to the generalized scandal at the end.
But we have no way of knowing what the communication between them was. But yes, the reserve referee had to notify the referee of this aspect, that Bergodi had left the technical area again. Because everything happened there, next to him. Vidican probably didn't notice that, in that final tension. But if he notified him, Vidican had to intervene and things would have ended there”.
“Didn't Pancu know that it's not his country anymore?!”
At the end, amused, Adrian Porumboiu also commented on the statement of Daniel Pancu, who, while extremely nervous, launched a xenophobic attack on Cristiano Bergodi: “We are in Romania, should a foreign coach beat my player in Romania, my country?!”.
The former referee wanted to convey to Pancu: “I like Pancone. Last night, he quoted as if from Vadim Tudor. But I would say to him, like this, maybe jokingly, a little. What, he didn't know that it's not his country anymore?! I can't believe that he hasn't found out yet”.
